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Giveaway: Vortex Marble Run & Connectagons from Hearthsong

by Tsh Oxenreider

Tsh is the founder of this blog and just finished traveling around the world with her husband and 3 kids. Her latest book is Notes From a Blue Bike, and believes a passport is one of the world's greatest textbooks.

This giveaway is now closed. Check back soon for the winner!

I‘m back for another Home for the Holidays giveaway! We’ve got 15 giveaways across the entire network this week—all great gift ideas, perfect for the holidays.

So last year I was psyched to give my daughter a dollhouse as one of our giveaway items. This year, it’s the boys’ turn! I can’t wait to see their faces when they open this on Christmas:

Not only that, Hearthsong is also including Connectagons in today’s giveaway:

These are going to Tate for Christmas—the girl loves to build things, so I know she’ll love them.

Together, these two items total a prize package of $100!

Learn more about these toys and how to win them.

So our marble run review took place at night, after the kids were in bed. We can’t spoil the surprise.

Needless to say, Kyle was happy to help with the review.

We both had a ball playing with this thing. It’s sturdy, easy to assemble, and limitless. It inherently fosters open-ended, creative play—my favorite kind of play.

Now, I wasn’t sure about the quality before it arrived in the mail, because I prefer wooden toys. But this marble run really is quality-made and sturdy. It’ll last us a long time, and our kids play with toys hard. Plus, I like that the sound effects are optional (I have a serious aversion to sound-making toys)—simply don’t include the batteries.

I’m also psyched to have a set of Connectagons in the house! My niece and nephew have a set of these, and my kids love playing with them when we visit. They also foster open-ended play because you can build anything with them—the only limit is creativity. Knowing Tate, she’ll probably be building a house or farm on Christmas morning.

I adore Hearthsong (really!) because they’re adamant about providing children with age-appropriate, wholesome, quality playthings. They care about kids being kids. You won’t find any icky toys here, and I love supporting a business that provides quality, family-friendly products at decent prices. Win! I’ll gladly point relatives to Hearthsong when they need gift ideas.

How to win

Everyone has two chances to win. Here’s how:

1. Comment on this post, answering this question: What was your favorite plaything when you were a child? (If you’re reading this via email, you need to click over and leave a comment on the post itself.)

2. For an extra entry, “like” both Simple Mom and Hearthsong on Facebook. Then come back here and leave an additional comment letting me know! (You don’t need to leave a comment on Facebook.)

This giveaway will end tomorrow, Thursday, December 1. I hope you win! We’ll announce the winners of all the holiday giveaways at the end of the week.

Comments

My favorite thing to play with as a child was a giant chalkboard that used to be in a classroom. My sister and I would play “school” for hours on end and since I was the oldest I always got to be the teacher

My favorite toy as a kid was the game of Operations because I always wanted to be a doctor! Well, in a way, that came true as I am a Mom of 3 boys and I am always fixing “Boo-boo’s”!
This is an awesome giveaway! My 3 boys would love it!!!
Liked “Simple Mom” on FB!

I love companies that are committed to letting kids be kids but in an age appropriate way! Thanks for bringing our attention to this company. My favorite play toy as a child was my plastic toy kitchen. I would play “restaurant” for hours and hours on end!

Someone else mentioned it, but I also loved my Weebles. We had a very cool Weeble treehouse with a little swing for the Weebles that we played with incessantly…my mother swears she still has it in the attic somewhere, but she hasn’t been able to locate it. I sure would love to see that thing again!

My favourite toy was less of a toy than household objects (an old rusty pipe, a bag of beans) that I dressed up or incorporated into my make-believe stories. What can I say, I have a vivid imagination…